Jones Ramsey

News Obituary Listing

Jones Ramsey, a college sports publicist for coaching legends Darrell Royal and Paul "Bear" Bryant who once semi-jokingly declared that the only sports in Texas were "football and spring football," died Monday. He was 83.

Ramsey, the University of Texas' sports information director from 1960 until his retirement in 1982, died at North Austin Medical Center. His son Paul, named for Bear Bryant, said a heart attack was the cause of death.

Services are pending.

"Another good man lost," said Fred Akers, the Longhorns' football coach when Ramsey retired. "He was one of a kind."

In a career that spanned more than 30 years, the bearish Ramsey — he called himself "the world's tallest fat man" — was a colorful character in a colorful time.

Ramsey was a native of Ponca City, Okla., and a graduate of Oklahoma State University, where he also worked as a sportswriter for the Stillwater News Press.

Before coming to UT, he spent nine years at Texas A&M, working with Bryant during the Bear's stint with the Aggies from 1954-57.

Ramsey was the sports information director for two Heisman Trophy winners — A&M's John David Crow in 1957 and Texas' Earl Campbell in 1977. He also was the point man for the media during Texas' national football championships under Royal in 1963, 1969 and 1970.

Bill Little, who succeeded Ramsey as Texas' sports information director, said Ramsey "set a standard in the field of sports information."

"He took the business from one of just statistic-keeping and release-writing and turned it into something more," Little said. "His job was to work for the (athletic) department and with the media, and he did that very well. Jones' hospitality was without peer."

Indeed, Ramsey was the liaison between Texas coaches and sportswriters during an era when the two entities socialized together considerably more than they do now. The main gathering spot was the Villa Capri motel, which was located on the current site of the Longhorn football team's indoor practice bubble, northeast of Royal-Memorial Stadium.

"We'd gather there every Friday night before games," recalled Denne Freeman, an Associated Press writer until his retirement in 2000. "It was like nothing I'd ever seen."

On those Friday nights, Royal would hold court for his sportswriter buddies. Numerous singers such as Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker and Charlie Rich also would be on hand. Overseeing it all was Ramsey.

"He was the best I was around in my 40 years in the business," Freeman said. "There was no request you could make and not have it answered, as far as interviewing Darrell or any of the players."

While Ramsey knew how to have a good time with writers, he also knew when it was time to be serious. On game days, he was all business.

"His was the greatest pressbox to work in because there was no silliness," Freeman said. "And there were never any duck-and-hides by players and coaches like there are today. Even if they lost, by God, they showed up to talk about it. And it was because Jones and Darrell demanded it."

A classic example of Ramsey's insistence that players be available to the media came the week before the 1969 Texas-Arkansas "Big Shootout."

Longhorn starting quarterback James Street missed a telephone interview with legendary Dallas sportswriter Blackie Sherrod. When Sherrod told Ramsey of the snafu, Ramsey suggested Sherrod fly to Austin for a face-to-face interview.

Sherrod arrived in Austin and found Ramsey awaiting him at the airport — with an apologetic Street in tow.

"He wanted you to be where you were supposed to be and always do the right thing," Street said Monday. "But he was always having fun with it and trying to think up ways to make it fun for the players."